


Hands Clean

by robinasnyder



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Consent is Sexy, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-19
Updated: 2013-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-27 00:56:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/972419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinasnyder/pseuds/robinasnyder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam wanted one thing and that was to spend his senior years at one school. Sam's more than a little wary when his father agrees and moves them to a new house and everything, but his father, an independent PI, seems to have one big job to work on. Sam doesn't question it until he discovers that their next door neighbor is Lucifer Campbell, who infamously tortured and murdered his parents and little sister and then was found not guilty in a jury trial. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Lucifer would just stop staring at him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amayakumiko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amayakumiko/gifts).



At 17, Sam had never been at one school for more than two months. His dad promised him a senior year in one place, though. He said this job was different. Whoever it was paid a lot and up front and rented them a place for a year. It was a nice house too, two stories and everything. It even had a big tree right next to his window like you’d see in teen movies where the love of the protagonist’s life comes through the window for years before the main character realizes that the guy next store is really the one for her. 

Sam doesn’t think that’s going to happen this time. For one thing he’s been there a week and he never sees any lights on inside. He has seen car (a 2007 Cadillac CTS, that Dean won’t shut up about because of the noises it shouldn’t be making) in the drive way which is sometimes there and sometimes not, but no lights. 

School’s nice, though. For the most part. Well, he thinks it’s nice on his first day when he shows up and no one bothers him. If his dad really means it, if his dad is absolutely certain that they’ll stay for a full year then it would be okay for Sam to make friends, right? But he’s still not certain that he won’t wake up and his dad won’t be telling him to pack up, they’re leaving. 

That’s what you get when your dad is an independent PI. Of course you have to be certified and have all your paper work together, but his dad’s been doing that long enough that he’s probably got every state certification there is. 

But Dean even found a job this time at a local garage. So Sam was hopeful that he’d be able to stay. 

Sam’s first day is the standard first day, except that it’s also the first day or school and so everyone is having a first day back. He watches a number of people go up to friends, hug, and talk animatedly. This will last for exactly one day, but Sam can’t help but feel a little hopeful, caught up in the infectious familiar newness that comes with the first day of school. 

He doesn’t even have a locker yet, and homeroom is longer than normal because they have to assign lockers to everyone. 

“Hey,” a cheerful female voice says next to his ear. Sam picked the middle of the class for a seat because really, people flock to the back and it’s a good way to get noticed, which isn’t what he really wants. 

He turned his head, looking at the girl who was talking with him. His mouth went a bit dry. She was cute, like really crazy cute, with thick curly dark brown hair and a warm smile. 

“Hi,” Sam said. 

“I don’t know you,” she said. 

“Uh, Sam, Winchester, Sam Winchester. I just moved here.” 

“Oh, cool,” the girl said. She stuck her hand out and Sam shook it. “I’m Ruby Cortese. It’s nice to meet you, Sam.” 

“It’s nice to meet you too, Ruby,” Sam said. 

“Where did you move from?” Ruby asked. 

“Another part of Kansas.” Well, he actually was from another part of Kansas originally, so it wasn’t a complete lie. And they had been in another part of Kansas before coming to Lebanon. 

“Ah, well that’s vague,” Ruby said. 

“I’m a vague person,” Sam said, smiling his most charming smile. 

“Ok, keep your secrets,” Ruby teased.

“I plan to,” Sam said. He felt relaxed, though. Ruby was adorable and she had turned her body in her desk so she could face him. 

“You know anyone here? Well, besides me now?” 

“Not so much,” Sam admitted. 

“It’s fine. I’ll introduce you to people. Don’t worry, a cute guy like you will have a flock of people around you in no time, especially if you keep up that cool mysterious guy vibe you’ve got going,” Ruby said. 

“Well, I do try,” Sam said. He smiled when Ruby laughed. 

“Okay, class, let’s get this over with. I’m Mr. Shurley. Some of you might be taking AP British lit with me this year, probably not a lot of you, but whatever. You come here in the morning. If I have forms to hand out, you’ll get them. Generally this part of the day is fifteen minutes for the pledge and the silent reflection that is not silent prayer time,” the teacher started. 

He wasn’t much taller than a lot of the kids in the class, actually he was a bit shorter. He had a squirrely, over worked type of face, and he was going to be teaching Sam’s AP British Lit class. He paced around while he talked. His room had the “cool teacher” vibe going on. One of the dry erase boards had a punch of strips of paper with “word of the day” words on them. The rest of the room had book cover posters and old sci-fi movie posters. Sam was more than a little happy to see Forbidden Planet on one wall. It gave him hope for movie days. 

“Okay, here are a mess of forms about school rules and stuff, take one down, pass it around, 99 bottles of orange soda on the wall style,” Mr. Shurley said, sarcasm pretty heavy in his voice. He gave the boy in front of him one stack of papers, waited until he’d taken one and passed it back before he handed him another. He did this for about seventy forms and finally a county issued planner that also had all the school and county rules, as well and study suggests, a US map with time zones, and a multiplication table printed on the inside. 

“Tomorrow’s homeroom is just as long because there’s a mandatory three dollar deposit for lockers. You pay, you get a locker. You don’t pay you don’t get a locker. You will pay eventually. You don’t get your deposit back at the end of the year. You can’t possibly carry around all your books. Yes, it is extortion. This is life, deal with it. Anyone who wants to pay can line up.

“You got money?” Ruby asked, standing up. 

“Yeah,” Sam said. 

“Then come on, unless you want to get stuck with a bottom locker,” she said, tugging him up to the quickly forming line. 

“Top Locker,” Mr. Shurley said the second he saw Sam in front of him. “Pay and sign,” the teacher said. Once he got the money and Sam signed the receipt he sent Sam (and Ruby who’d gone and gotten their bags) out to the hall to test out their lockers. 

People were already in the hall way, doing the same. Ruby and Sam’s lockers were right next to each other, but there was already a press of people so Sam and Ruby stood back. 

“Why are there always so many forms?” Sam asked. “And why couldn’t my dad have signed these when he got me registered for classed a few days ago?” 

“Because of the bean counters, Sam. You’ve got to make the bean counters happy or they set fire to the school building. You have to understand that school isn’t about learning it’s about checking off boxes for the bean counters,” Ruby said, shaking her head. 

“I can hope you’re wrong,” Sam said. 

“Then you’re a fool,” Ruby said. 

Sam’s head jerked up because there was a sudden absence of noise. A scruffy guy came out of the room across of Mr. Shurley’s. The kids from that room had lockers next to the ones from Mr. Shurley’s homeroom. Everyone had gone silent when the guy came out. He was blond, almost as tall as Sam, hair fluffy and looking like it seriously needed a hair brush, beard scruffy but still the likes of wish Sam could coax from his face at their age. Most of all, he looked really, really familiar to Sam. 

The hall filled with the sudden noise of whispers. The guy just stood back and waited while people cleared away from where his locker stood. 

“Come on,” Ruby said. People had cleared away enough that Sam could actually reach his locker. Sam started fiddling with his locker, trying to get the combination right, but he also kept glancing at the guy. He didn’t look evil. In fact he didn’t even look that assuming. In a still photo you’d probably never even look at him twice, but watching him move he was just irresistible. 

Sam imagined he was the lead on some team and was very popular with the girls, which was a shame for Sam because he’d be easy enough to kiss that Sam wouldn’t even have to break his back in the process. 

“Sam,” Ruby hissed in his ear. 

“Wha?” Sam asked, feeling a bit stupid. He realized why Ruby was tugging on his arm. He’d been staring at the guy, lost in a day dream. The guy had his eyes, sharp but forgettable ice blue, fixed on Sam. That was the kind of stare you read about in books, the kind a man gave a woman before he ravished her, or the kind a guy gave someone before he pulled out the garrote. 

“Hey, Lucifer,” Ruby called to the guy, waving a bit. The guy, Lucifer, made a noncommittal nod and shut his locker, turning away as the bell sounded. 

“Lucifer?” Sam asked. He turned back to his locker. Once “Lucifer” was gone it was easy to concentrate on his combination and get it open. He tossed emptied the new notebooks his dad had bought for him into the locker and shut it. 

“Lucifer Campbell,” Ruby said quietly. 

“Lucifer… Campbell… oh shit,” Sam said. 

Memories came screaming back. He and Dean had followed the whole circus-like trial for months, from the arrest to the shocking conclusion: Lucifer Campbell, the 18 year old who brutally tortured and murdered his two parents and 14 year old little sister one night, walked away not guilty on all charges. People hadn’t been that pissed about a verdict since the Casey Anthony trial. 

“So, I take it you’ve heard,” Ruby said. “What class do you have?” 

“Econ-Government with Ms. Rosen,” Sam said. “What is he doing here? Je was senior when the trial was going on last year.” 

“Good, we have the same class,” Ruby said, directing him away from the 100 hall and their lockers down to the 200 hall toward their first period class. 

“Ruby?” Sam asked. 

“He couldn’t afford bail, so he was in jail until his trial was over, and so he missed a couple months of school. There’s no coming back from that. I heard the school tried really hard to keep him from coming back, but his attorney threatened to file a lawsuit on grounds of discrimination and the school relented,” Ruby said. 

“God, no wonder everyone was so quiet,” Sam said. “Did you know him… before?” 

“Sort of,” Ruby said. “I mean, everyone knew him. Like every knows that girl here has slept with him, practically any way.” 

“Did you?” Sam asked. 

“Well, I had my fun with him,” Ruby said with a snort and shrug. “But you know, I wasn’t his friend or anything. He was the guy who could tell you where to get the good weed, how to get the good booze, where the best party was. He’d show up hung over and high to tests and come out with the top grade.” 

“So, basically the guy that guys like me hate,” Sam said. He knew the type. Ash, from one of his other schools, had been like that. Ash drove him crazy, though he sort of loved the guy because he kept in touch. 

“Basically,” Ruby said. 

“You think he did it?” Sam asked. 

Ruby shrugged. “I mean, generally guys who are serial killers, like people never expect it. So if I said I’d never have thought he’d done it, then it wouldn’t even matter. But I also know if he did do it, it’s probably not a good idea to be awful to him.” 

“Oh yeah,” Sam said. He settled down into his seat, the one next to Ruby that Ruby indicated. 

“Yeah, so let’s talk about something nicer,” Ruby said. 

“Like what?” Sam asked with a smile. “Like how it’s Wednesday and Friday’s two days away.” 

“Yeah,” Sam said. “I’m not sure if I hate them for making me come in when they could have waited three more days, or loving them for only having a three day week this week and a four day one next week.” 

“I know, right. God, you should have been here the year that they had school until the 22nd of December. They pushed it back to the 12th and never did that again,” Ruby said with a laugh. 

“God, that sounds offer,” Sam groaned. 

“It sucked so much. I think half the teachers threatened to quit and I know the parents were screaming mad,” Ruby said, still chuckling. “But seriously, Friday.” 

“What about Friday?” Sam asked. 

“Do you have plans?” she asked. 

“Eh… I think my brother wants to watch Star Wars or something… so sort of, not really.” 

“Wow, you’re dense,” Ruby sighed. 

“I am?” Sam asked, blinking in confusion. 

“I’m asking you out on a date, dummy,” Ruby said. 

“A date,” Sam repeated. “Seriously.” 

“Yeah,” Ruby said. 

“Don’t you… I don’t know, normally wait to ask someone out until after you know them?” Sam asked. 

“Sam, the point of the date is to get to know someone, and if I don’t like you, I’ll kick you to the curb and that will be that. But since there’s a chance I might like you I want a chance at first dibs before my friends figure out how cute your face and your floppy hair is.” 

“May hair isn’t floppy,” Sam mumbled. 

“I beg to differ,” Ruby said with a smirk. “So? We have a date.” 

“Ah… sure,” Sam said. 

“What, you hesitant about going out with me?” Ruby asked. Her eyes were fixed on him and Sam felt more than a little bit like a mouse the cat had cornered. 

“No,” Sam said. “I’m just feeling a bit blindsided… did you actually just ask me out after only knowing me for like five minutes.” 

“No, I asked you out after having known you for like forty,” Ruby said with an all too sweet smile. “Does that bother you?” 

“No,” Sam said, smiling. “I actually kind of like it.” 

“Good, so do you have a car?” 

“I-”

“Ok, class! Syllabus time!” The teacher said, walking in with a pants suit and stack of papers. 

“After class,” Ruby said.

* * *

Sam didn't have a car. Dean had Dad's old Impala. Dad had gotten a GMC Sierra Grande to replace it. Dean had wanted the Impala since forever, and it had made a perfect sweet 16 gift. Sam's sweet 17 gift was a year in one school. Their house wasn't so far away that he couldn't walk.

"I liked your friends," Sam said.

"Man, the only one who wasn't all over you was Meg. I'm so glad I stamped a claim," Ruby groaned as they walked out toward the parking lot.

"Yeah, why wasn't she, by the way?" Sam asked. Meg had been flirty, like the rest, but it was a kind of mean type of flirty.

"Meg's got a crush on the super hot bisexual Librarian at Hastings College," Ruby said. "According to her he likes her back, but he told her that he won't have "sexual relations" with someone still in High School, and that if she goes to Hastings just because he's there then he'll be most displeased."

"Ah," Sam said. "Wait, isn't that in Nebraska?"

"It's also the closest college library to here, only an hour away," Ruby said. "The guy Meg likes actually lives here, and drives to Nebraska to work."

"That's…"

"Insane?" Ruby suggested.

"I've seen worse," Sam said dryly. "Now, remind me again, Julia is the one-"

"Who had a kid that went up for adoption. The blonde in our group," Meg said.

"Uh-huh, and Casey is the one with long straight brown hair," Sam said.

"And Tammi is the short haired bitch we all love," Ruby said with a grin.

"Okay… I can't promise to remember tomorrow, but I'll work on it," Sam said. "So, which one is your car?"

"The ridiculous pink beetle," Ruby said, pointing to her car.

"Oh God, I thought you were joking when you said it was pink," Sam groaned.

"I know, I wish. I was so stupid when I asked for this. I can't believe how dumb I was," she said, laughing. She pressed the button on her keys and the lights turned on, and locks audibly unlocked.

"it has eyelashes. Your car has eyelashes."

"Okay, those are new, but I love them. So shut up," Ruby said.

Sam groaned he made a face and turned away over dramatically. He stopped, feeling a bit cold when he saw the car next to Ruby's. It was a red 2007 Cadillac CTS.

"Ruby, who's car is this?"

"Hey, Lucifer!" Ruby said. Sam jerked his head up. Lucifer was walking toward them.

"Ruby," Lucifer said. He came to a stop in front of Sam. Again, Sam felt assaulted by Lucifer's gaze. He really did have that presence, the type you'd think would go with a murderer. And his cold blue eyes were fixed right on Sam.

"Can I help you?" Sam asked, sounding annoyed.

"You're standing in front of my door," Lucifer said.

"Oh," Sam said, going a bit red himself. "Sorry." He stepped aside. Hell, he practically flattened himself against Ruby's pink bug.

Lucifer cocked his head to one side and stared at Sam for a moment. Then his eyes flicked to Ruby. He turned away and got in the red caddy and drove off. Sam shivered, hearing the very familiar rattle rattle that had been driving Dean crazy all week.

"Sam?' Ruby asked.

"Hey, why did you say you didn't think he'd be the type?" Sam asked. He wasn't looking at her, though. His eyes were following the caddy's progress over the speed bumps and out the gate.

"If he was going to kill someone, he'd be smart enough to hide the evidence," Ruby said.

"Yeah," Sam said, turning around and getting in the car.

"You know, he's probably not going to kill you, I think you're okay," Ruby said once she got inside as well.

"It's not that," Sam said.

"Then what is it?" she asked, starting the car. The Spice Girls started blasting and Ruby turned down the din, but didn't change the song.

"I think he might be my next door neighbor," Sam said.

"Ah!" Ruby said, putting the car in reserve and beginning to back out of the space. "Yeah, I can see why that would make you look like you'll be facing the hangman soon."

"Gee, thanks," Sam muttered. He settled in and closed his eyes and tried very hard not to think of the implications of living next to a murderer.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam had been hacking into police records since he was 12. His dad might be able to go get the official records, but really it was just faster and easier to do it Sam’s way. John would still go to get what records he could since it would make them look less suspect if they were found to have the files later, but meanwhile Sam could already be taking notes on the suspect and case files. 

That was why Sam had little trouble and no moral squirming about breaking into Lebanon’s system to get Lucifer Campbell’s file. Okay, it was a little harder because people had probably broken in more often, but Sam still got in and got what he wanted. 

His first thought was that it made sense why everyone thought Lucifer did it. He had a record a mile long, nothing that would get him more than a weekend in lock up, or a ton of community service. He’d written essays and sworn never to do it again and would appear in court the next weekend. Smoking underage, caught with alcohol, tagging when he was younger, fighting, allegations of assault from EXs. 

Lucifer’s statement when he was arrested was interesting. He said that he’d been passed out drunk in a field and when he came home his house was torn up and his family was lying dead on the carpet. That was the defense that he stuck with through the whole trial that no one believed, except that he got off, so someone on the jury believed it. 

Sam decided to dig a little further, school records. Those were even easier to get into. Idly Sam thought that he could change his grades and probably never get caught, but he really had no reason to fiddle with grades. He just wanted information. 

Lucifer’s school record was even more insane than his police record. He’s probably spent every day in detention for three years. If he hadn’t been out of school for the last semester and a half of his senior year of high school he probably would have been valedictorian. Sam’s eyebrows went up when he saw what the school had done to his grades. He thought for being out so long they would have just given him an Incomplete for the course. Instead they’d failed him in every course for his senior year, dropping the previously perfect GPA to a good solid B, but he couldn’t graduate with failing six classes. And if he passed all the AP classes he was in this year he’d have enough to cover a year of college. 

That night Sam looked out his window, staring at the red caddy sitting the drive way. Sam wondered why Lucifer would kill his family like that. Sam saw the pictures. He’d seen worse in terms of carnage, but those were generally crime scene photos from some nasty wrecks. This had just been brutal, the type of destruction you’d see in crime fiction and movies. How much could Lucifer have hated his family that he wanted to do that to them? 

And then that made Sam wonder, exactly why were they living next to a murderer? 

“Dad!” Sam called, nearly running out his room down stairs to the living room. 

“Sam, can you keep it down,” Dean groaned from the sofa. 

“Where’s dad?” Sam asked. 

“I’m right here, what’s all the shouting about?” John asked, emerging from the kitchen with two beers, one of which he dropped in Dean’s hand.

“Are you investigating Lucifer Campbell?” Sam asked. “Is that why we moved next door?” 

“Wait,” Dean said, sitting up straight. “You mean that kid who murdered his family, the one who was all over the news, who is still all over the news? That Lucifer Campbell? That’s the owner of that fucking annoying caddy?” 

“Yes,” John said. “Yes, he is the person I’m investigating. And you should stay away from him, Sam.” 

“I can’t exactly do that when he’s in four of my classes,” Sam snapped. 

“He’s in four of your classes?” Dean snapped, he looked at their dad, anger in his eyes. Sam appreciated it, he did. Dean only got mad at their dad if it was about him. Sam just wished that Dean would get mad about other things. 

“I wasn’t aware,” John said slowly before looking at Sam. “Has he bothered you?” 

“He told me I was blocking his way to his car, but otherwise, he hasn’t really done more than look at me.” 

“Look at you how?” Dean asked. Sam suddenly wished Dean didn’t care so much. 

“Uh… like he just stared a bit is all. I’m sure he was just wondering who I was. This town isn’t exactly huge, and I got stared at quite a bit, so it’s probably nothing.” 

“Oh yeah, probably nothing,” Dean muttered. “Dad, you cannot let Sammy go to school with this guy.” 

“Hey!” Sam snapped. “No, Dad, you promised I could stay in one place. I’ve already got people who like me. I have a date on Friday. I do not want to move because of the psychopath next door.” 

“We’re not moving,” John said. 

“Why not?” Dean demanded. “Dad, what if he hurts Sammy?” 

“He won’t,” John said. 

“But what if he does?” Dean snapped. 

“Dean,” John said in that exact tone that always made Dean freeze. “He won’t hurt Sam. The only time Sam will see him is at school around a few thousand people. I understand that he did not have a good time in prison and does not want to repeat the experience. He won’t be so stupid to attack Sam at school.” 

“And what if he breaks in here?” Dean asked. 

“That’s what knives and the self defense plea is for,” Sam said. “Damn, Dean, if you saw his record you’d know that there’s almost no way I wouldn’t get off.” 

“You saw his record?” John asked. 

Sam turned a bit red. “I may have hacked it.” 

“Why?” John asked. 

“Because I was curious,” Sam said. “Dad, why are you investigating him?” 

“The criminal trial’s over, but there’s still the civil trial,” John said. “I’ve been hired to observe and gather information for that trial.” 

“Civil trial,” Sam said quietly. 

“Wrongful death. Mrs. Campbell, Milton Campbell’s mother, filed the suit,” John said. “Apparently Mr. and Ms. Campbell had very pricey insurance policies, as well as the one on their daughter. My client doesn’t want her son’s murderer to get his hands on the money.” 

“Oh,” Sam said. “So we picked this house to spy on him?” 

“No, Mrs. Campbell owns the house and gave me a very steep discount on the rent as well as a nice compensation package. The joys of working with the wealthy. And since you have his files I want them,” John said. 

“Do you want his school files too?” Sam asked. 

John looked mildly disappointed. “Sam, why do you have his school files?” 

“I was curious. Hey, you didn’t tell me anything about this?” 

“It’s a long term assignment. We’ll be here for a year at least, there was no reason to get you involved. You were the one who said you wanted to be normal for a change.”

“So, what, now you listen to me?” Sam snapped. 

“Hey,” Dean interjected. “Doctor Sexy is coming on in five minutes. Don’t you have like a ton of books to read already for AP lit or something?” 

Sam didn’t know if he was thankful for Dean interrupting him and their dad before they got into a real fight. 

“No, but I do have like a million pares I need signed,” Sam said. 

“Why couldn’t I sign them when I was at school last week?” John gripped, settling in next to Dean on the sofa. 

“I know,” Sam groaned. “Ruby says they have to make the bean counters happy.” 

John chuckled. “Ruby, is that the girl you’re going out with?” 

“How do you get a date on the first day?” Dean asked. 

Sam felt his ear go red. “She asked me.” 

“Way to go stud,” John said, rolling his eyes, but he wasn’t really being mean. “Now go get your forms so I can sign them, because I don’t want Dean to be bitching that I’m interrupting his show.”

* * *

Sam really had been looking forward to Friday, but sadly Thursday came before Friday. It really wasn’t Thursday, it was that Mr. Shurley did not pull his punches when it came to his AP class.

“Okay, I know you all want to ease in to things, and that’s sort of what this not-week is for. So I’m about to horrify you when I tell you that this is easing you in. You have a Shakespeare Project due this semester. It will be 30 percent of this semester’s grade. I’m going to be nice and let you partner up, except I’m going to be mean and partner you myself because I’m a cruel, cruel God.” 

There was an audible groan around the room. Sam grumbled. He didn’t do too well with group projects. Mostly he did everything. But he hadn’t gotten time to know anyone in the class. Literally the only person who knew was Lucifer, who was sitting at the front of the class right against the word wall. 

“Okay, let’s strike down the terror from your hearts,” Mr. Shurley said. “I’m going to let you pick a Shakespeare play, anyone. I don’t want anyone to do the same play, so today you get to pick. I’m going to hand each of you a sheet with every Shakespeare play. I’ll go to each group. If you’re the only one how picks it, you get it. If it’s really popular you’ll probably have to flip for it. If you lose the flip you pick something else.” 

Well, Sam really didn’t want to do Hamlet anyway, so he was really okay with not doing that one, or Macbeth, or Romeo & Juliette. He glanced at Mr. Shurley’s Forbidden Planet post again. The Tempest was okay. 

“I’ll pass out the boring paper work in a minute, but I know you’re all worried about teams. And this is where I’m going to be nice and get everyone’s big fear out of the way. Lucifer, you work with Sam Winchester.” 

“What?” Sam asked. He was certain he couldn’t have heard that. 

“Eh, you’re new,” Mr. Shurley said, looking down at his list. “Life’s hard and then you die, deal with it.” 

Sam sat there is a bit of shock while Mr. Shurley paired up the rest of the class. Everyone started moving around to get into their pairs. Sam was vaguely certain that he heard Mr. Shurley say they’d just be working with their partner that day to discuss what play they wanted to do and look over the project paper work. Sam stayed rooted in his seat. 

He looked over at Lucifer, wondering if he was going to come. It didn’t really surprise him to see that Lucifer had turned in his seat, leaning against the word wall, and was just staring at Sam. Sam met his gaze and glared at him. But Lucifer wasn’t glaring, he was just staring. 

Sam grumbled and collected his bag and walked over to Lucifer. He turned a desk and pushed it perpendicularly against Lucifer’s. He sat down and just looked at Lucifer. 

“Oh look, you boys are making friends already,” Mr. Shurley said, putting the papers they were going to need down in front of them. 

“What should we do?” Lucifer asked. Sam nearly jumped. Lucifer had this really unassuming voice, like the rest of him. Sam wanted to say that Lucifer looked like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, and he almost looked like that, but really he looked like his name should be Lucifer and all the implications there of. 

“What about The Tempest?” Sam asked, looking at the poster they were seated right in front of.” 

“No.” 

Sam looked back at Lucifer. That ‘no’ had been so definite. “No?” 

“No,” Lucifer said. 

“Why?” Sam asked. 

“Because Mr. Shurley loves that movie, or he wouldn’t have it on his wall, and I personally have no interest in trying to tell him something new about his favorite text. We can do a comedy, but we should pick one of less popular ones.” 

Well, that was painfully logical. Sam felt his ears going red. Why hadn’t he thought of that? He felt like an idiot and they hadn’t even been talking for more than a few minutes. 

“Ok,” Sam said. “What do you want to do? Much Ado About Nothing just had a movie come out.” 

“Which is why it’s more likely to get picked,” Lucifer said. He looked down at the list in his hand. “How about As You Like It?” 

“Okay,” Sam said. 

Lucifer cocked an eyebrow. “Okay?” 

“You’re right, okay?” Sam asked. “And it’s not really bad, so okay.” 

Lucifer stared at Sam again. Sam was starting to feel really self conscious with all of Lucifer’s staring. It was intense, terrifying even, like Lucifer wanted to peel of all his skin and see underneath. And it was flattering, which was probably the most terrifying part. Sam had to be projecting onto a murderer, that Lucifer wanted to figure out more about him. 

Slowly, Lucifer nodded. “Okay.” 

“Good,” Sam said. He circled the play on the list and pushed it aside. “Now what?” 

“We should meet,” Lucifer said. “Outside of school, somewhere.” 

“Ah,” Sam said. He thought about either one of their houses. No way he was going to be alone with Lucifer in his house. And there was no way he was going to admit that he lived right next door to Lucifer either. 

“Do you have a suggestion?” Lucifer asked. 

“The Hastings College Library?” Sam asked, pulling literally the first location he could think of out of his head. Okay, he had been thinking of it and wondering about Meg’s not-yet-boyfriend. And it was a public place. 

“Okay,” Lucifer said. 

“Okay?” Sam asked. 

“That is an acceptable place,” Lucifer said. “Friday?” 

“Can’t,” Sam said. “I have a date,.” 

Lucifer snorted. “That was fast.” 

Sam ducked his head, going a bit red all over. “It’s with Ruby.” 

“Ah,” Lucifer said, understanding in his voice. “Saturday?” 

“Sure, is like 10 okay?” 

“Sure,” Lucifer said. “Would you like me to drive?” 

“No,” Sam said quickly. He regretted it when Lucifer raised his brow again.

“No?” 

“My brother will want to drive us. It’s better to just let him,” Sam explained. 

“Protective big brother doesn’t want to leave you alone with a murderer,” Lucifer said. 

“I didn’t-” Sam started. 

Lucifer held up one finger. “I understand.” 

“Hey, you guys got any questions?” Mr. Shurley asked, finally coming around to their group. 

“We picked our play,” Lucifer said, indicating the paper Sam had pushed to the edge of the desk. 

Mr. Shurley picked up the paper and looked at it. “Hmm, As You Like It. I’ll put it on the board. I doubt anyone else will try to claim it. Do you have any other questions?” 

“Ah, the paper?” Sam asked. 

“Yeah, it’s a big project… crap, I didn’t give you guys my spiel yet. So, basically this is going to be your best friend and worst nightmare. See, it is a group paper, but you also have an individual paper of half the length on your own topic. In your group paper you examine the play comparatively. Meaning you can compare it to other Shakespeare works, or to just other works in general. If the papers good, you can compare it to anything, including Star Wars. I’ve had that paper before, it was fun. The smaller paper is an examination of a scene that you personally found import and you explain why it’s important. Then you have two more parts of this project. The first is that you two pick a scene from your play and produce it for the class.” 

“For the Shakespeare Festival?” Lucifer asked. 

“Yep,” Mr. Shurley said, popping the ‘P’. He looked at Sam. “See, if you come up with a really good scene then I can take you to this festival to perform your scene and you can win a prize. It’s great for academics and the school and all.” 

“You won’t pick us,” Lucifer said. 

“Probably not. You guys could recreate the second coming of Christ and probably couldn’t send you along, half because the second coming of Christ is not a topic of a Shakespeare play, and partly because parents will split wigs and I don’t want to be yelled at. But the scene is still five percent of this semester’s grade.” 

“What’s the other part?” Sam asked. 

“The last presentation is teaching a class on your text at the end of the semester. We do block schedule for the last two or so weeks, between the study sessions and testing. There’s ten groups and five days. This will count as your final for this semester. This part is ten percent of your grade. The group paper is ten percent and the individual paper is five percent. You guys are going to be together a lot this semester. Sorry, Sam.” 

“I’ll live,” Sam said. 

“That’s questionable,” Lucifer said. Sam turned and glared at him. 

“Dude, not funny.” 

“Yeah,” Mr. Shurley said. “Man, do not make me write you up. They’re looking for an excuse, looking.” 

“Sorry,” Lucifer said. He didn’t sound sorry at all.

“Yeah, yeah,” Mr. Shurley said and went to write their play on the board. There was a groaned from somewhere back in the room. Apparently someone else had wanted that play. 

“Do you have an idea for the group paper?” Sam asked. He didn’t want to devolve into silence again. 

“That’s what Saturday is for,” Lucifer said. He leaned back against the word wall and shut his eyes, clearly finished with their conversation. 

Sam scowled and pulled out his AP British History book. That had been his previous class and he had homework he could be getting done. He wasn’t going to waste the time anyway. It turned out to be good, since Lucifer slept through the rest of the class.

* * *

“What happened to me telling you to stay away from him?” John demanded the second Sam told him about being assigned Lucifer as a teammate. 

“Mr. Shurley assigned him to me. It’s not like I asked for him or anything. Look, I’m not going to be alone with him if I can help it.” 

“I’m sorry, don’t you have to be in someone’s presence in order to work on a project with them?” John asked. 

“Yeah, but I’m only going to pick public places. We agreed to go to the Hastings College Library on Saturday and that Dean would drive us.” 

“Excuse me, Dean would what?” Dean asked. 

Sam rolled his eyes. “Like you wouldn’t insist anyway.” 

“I have work,” Dean said. 

“Not anymore,” John said. 

“Look, we’re going to need to leave at 10,and you can stay and monitor us, and it’ll give dad time where he’ll know exactly where Lucifer Campbell is so he can search for information and you and I can spy on him and try to get information. Plus, public place.” 

“I don’t know,” Dean said. 

“It’s a good idea,” John said, but he didn’t sound happy either. 

“Yeah, but it is what it is. Man, I so do not want to get murdered. Believe me, I’m not going to take unnecessary risks. I swear.” He looked at his dad. “Dad, I swear.” 

His father looked at him long and hard and finally, slowly nodded. “Okay.” 

“Dad-” Dean started. 

“No, Dean. Go with him on Saturday. Sam, do not meet him outside of school without telling us exactly where you’re going and only meet in public places.” 

“Deal,” Sam said. 

It turned out just heading the situation at the pass had been the best solution.


End file.
